Certain beans and legumes—or “pulses” as they are commonly known in other countries—are the single-most underrated superfood, according to Cynthia Sass, RD. Find out how eating beans can speed weight loss and boost your health.

Pulses Boost Satiety and Curb Cravings for Processed Snacks

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Australian researchers asked 42 volunteers to consume their usual diets plus about 3½ ounces of chickpeas daily for 12 weeks and then return to their typical diets for another month. Based on food diaries, the participants ate less from every food group, especially grains, during the three-month chickpea intervention. They also reported feeling more satisfied. In the four weeks after the study ended, their intake of processed snacks spiked. (Did you know that chickpeas can actually boost your sex drive?)

Pulses Boost Calorie and Fat Burning

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In a study published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, University of Manitoba scientists found that hamsters fed diets containing 10 percent pea flour in place of cornstarch took in more oxygen, a measure of metabolic rate. Scientists believe this is because the pea-based diets contained nearly 25 percent more arginine, an amino acid that’s been shown to increase both carbohydrate and fat burning. Fava beans and lentils are also rich in arginine as well as glutamine, another amino acid that in human research has been tied to a 50 percent boost in post-meal calorie burning. (Speaking of burning calories, here’s how many mouse clicks it takes to burn one.)